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DELIVERED 


ilt    tlje    iFttnera 


MRS.    HANNAH    C.    STBAENS, 


OB"     BROOKLINE, 


On    Sunday,    ISTov.    8th,   1857. 


By     Rev.    F.    H.    HEDGE,     D.D. 


BOSTON: 

KRINTED     BY    DAVID     CI.  APP. 

1857. 


UCSB  LIBRARY 
AN  ADDRESS 


DEUYSBED 


at    ttie   iFttn«tr«l 


MES.    HANNAH    C.    STEAENS, 

OF     BROOKLINE, 

On    Sunday,    Nov.   8tli,  1857. 


By    Rev.    F.    H.    HEDGE,    D.D. 


BOSTON: 

PRINTED    BY    DAVID     OLAPP. 

1857. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.archive.org/details/addressdeliveredOOhedgiala 


ADDRESS. 


Fellow  Christians  :  — 

Our  worship  this  afternoon  is  changed  to 
a  funeral  service.  "We  solemnize  the  departure  from 
this  congregation,  as  well  as  from  the  family  circle, 
of  one  who  for  many  years  was  intimately  and 
variously  connected  with  the  Church  and  Society 
worshipping  in  this  place.  Ordinarily,  the  obsequies 
paid  to  departed  friends  are  best  performed  in  the 
private  dwellings  in  which  their  earthly  existence 
terminated  —  in  the  close  circle  of  their  own  kindred 
and  friends.  But  in  this  case  there  seemed  to  be  a 
peculiar  fitness  in  making  the  public  sanctuary  the 
scene  of  those  tributes  which  friends  would  pay  to 
one  who  so  loved  the  sanctuary- ;  who  desired,  in  the 
language  of  the  Psalmist,  "to  dwell  in  the  house  of 
the  Lord  —  to  behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  and  to 
inquire  in  His  temple." 


The  fiiend  and  fellow-worshipper  whose  earthly 
form  we  now  commit  to  its  final  rest,  was  little 
known  beyond  the  immediate  and  limited  sphere  of 
personal  intercourse  and  private  duty  in  which  she 
moved.  But  to  fill  faithfully,  and  profitably,  and 
acceptably,  a  limited  sphere,  is  so  much  better  and 
so  much  more  difiicult  than  to  work  imperfectly  in 
a  larger  one,  that  human  beings  must  be  judged  by 
their  completeness,  not  by  their  position.  The  wel- 
fare of  society  depends  mainly  on  the  adaptation  of 
individuals  to  their  appointed  places,  on  their  fidelity 
to  their  position,  on  the  regular  discharge  and 
conscientious  satisfaction  of  the  duties  of  that  posi- 
tion; it  depends  on  constancy,  diligence,  good- will, 
affection,  conscientiousness  in  private  life ;  it  depends 
on  precisely  those  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  which 
characterized  and  distinguished,  in  so  remarkable  a 
degree,  our  departed  friend.  There  is  no  greater 
benefactor  to  society  than  the  faithful  and  affection- 
ate husband  and  wife,  the  wise  and  conscientious 
parent,  the  kind  neighbor,  the  active  member  of  a 
religious  society,  the  true  Christian  in  private  life. 
All  this  we  may  freely  and  sincerely  affirm  of  the 
departed. 


Mrs.  Hannah  C.  Stearns,  a  native  of  this  town, 
born  in  1803,  was  eldest  daughter  of  James  Pierce, 
and  cousin  of  the  late  Dr.  Pierce,  the  former  pastor 
of  this  church.  The  loss  of  her  mother  threw  her, 
while  yet  a  child,  on  her  own  resources,  and  necessi- 
tated those  habits  of  self-dependence  and  self-direc- 
tion which  I  sometimes  think  are  a  full  compensation 
for  even  so  great  a  loss.  After  the  death  of  her 
father,  in  1826,  an  honorable  love  of  independence 
impelled  her  to  maintain  herself  by  her  own  faculty 
and  industry,  rather  than  burden  others  with  the 
care  of  her  support.  In  1832,  she  was  married  to 
Mr.  Steams,  and  for  twenty-five  years  fulfilled,  as 
wife  and  mother,  and  head  of  a  household,  the  high- 
est mission  of  woman,  developing  the  abilities,  exer- 
cising the  functions  and  practising  the  virtues  which 
the  faithful  discharge  of  that  mission  involves. 

The  last  two  years  of  her  mortal  life  were  shaded, 
yet  scarcely  shaded,  by  a  slow  decline,  which  heredi- 
tary predisposition  stamped  as  incurable  consump- 
tion of  the  vital  organs.  She  knew  that  her  end 
was  near,  but  greeted  its  approach  without  shrink- 
ing, and  faced  death  without  dread.  To  her  un- 
questioning faith  the  world  to  come  was  as  real  as 
the  present,  and  as  surely  irradiated  and  made  glad 


by  the  presence  and  blessing  of  the  all-loving  Father 
of  spirits  and  of  mercies.  Gradually  sinking  in 
bodily  strength,  she  retained  to  the  very  last  her 
mental  powers,  and  could  read  and  converse  through 
all  her  illness,  with  accustomed  relish.  By  the 
blessing  of  God,  her  confinement  to  the  sick-room 
was  of  brief  duration.  On  Wednesday  last,  she 
perceived,  in  her  extreme  weakness,  that  the  night 
was  come  whose  morning  is  not  of  this  world.  In 
perfect  possession  of  all  her  faculties,  she  took  leave 
of  her  friends.  To  a  relative  who  entered  toward 
evening,  she  proposed  music.  The  hymn  in  which 
you  have  just  joined,  "There  is  a  land  of  pure 
delight,"  was  played  and  sung  at  her  request,  and 
when  the  piece  was  concluded  she  had  fallen  asleep. 
The  character  of  the  woman  whose  external  life- 
course,  and  the  leading  incidents  in  whose  history,  I 
have  thus  briefly  indicated,  was  perfectly  transparent 
and  easy  of  comprehension  to  all  who  can  appreciate 
simple  goodness  and  an  honest,  affectionate,  guileless 
nature.  There  was  no  disguise  or  mystery  about 
her,  no  dark  corners  in  her  soul,  neither  was  any 
guile  found  in  her  mouth.  The  truth  and  simplicity 
of  her  nature  were  shed  like  sunlight  on  all  who 
came   near  her.     Open  as  the  day  to  friends  and 


acquaintance,  whoever  beheld  her  face  was  aware  of 
her  thoughts;  whoever  witnessed  her  actions  read 
her  heart;  and  could  she  have  laid  open  the  very 
interior  of  her  mind,  it  is  my  belief  that  no  new 
discovery  would  have  been  made  by  such  revelation, 
unless  it  were  a  greater  depth  of  faith,  and  piety, 
and  love,  than  even  her  best  friends  had  imputed  to 
her.  The  three  most  eminent  of  the  Christian  graces 
were  constituent  elements  of  her  character  —  humi- 
lity, gentleness,  charity.  Duty  was  her  meat  and 
her  drink;  she  had  no  ambition  beyond  the  con> 
sciousness  of  well-doing,  and  knew  no  higher  satis- 
faction than  the  secret  approbation  of  the  heart. 

Without  pretension  and  without  enthusiasm,  she 
was  thoroughly  religious  in  character  and  life.  Her 
religion  was  eminently  practical,  and  better  known 
by  its  fruits  than  by  its  dogmas  or  emotions.  It 
was  that  religion  which  acts  as  a  restraint  upon  every 
evil  propensity  and  an  incentive  to  every  good  one ; 
which  makes  faithful  in  every  duty,  patient  in  every 
trial,  honest  in  all  dealings,  prompt  in  every  office 
of  love ;  that  religion  which  serves  God  and  man 
with  a  willing,  constant  and  devoted  service ;  that 
reUgion  which  is  best  to  live  by  and  best  to  die  by, 
which  alone  can  make  living  useful  and  dying  blest. 


8 

This  religion  is  irrespective  of  all  forms  of  specula- 
tive belief,  and  above  all.  It  belongs  to  no  sect.  It 
is  neither  Catholic  nor  Protestant,  Trinitarian  nor 
Unitarian.  It  does  not  appear  that  men  die  more 
happily  with  one  kind  of  creed  than  with  another, 
but  it  does  appear  that  they  die  more  happily  with 
one  kind  of  conscience  than  another;  and  though 
the  Christian  cannot  feel  that  he  has  merited  heaven 
by  his  works,  though  he  places  his  reliance  on  the 
mercy  of  God  in  Christ,  he  knows  that  mercy  is  not 
unconditional,  and  that  the  Christian  character 
alone  can  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  reli- 
gion of  the  life — practical  religion — is  the  best 
comforter  of  the  dying  hour.  The  Christian  believer 
who  has  lived  by  faith  while  in  the  body,  can  face 
death  without  dread,  because  he  knows,  because  he 
feels  that  death  for  him  is  of  the  body,  and  not  of 
the  soul ;  because  he  has  already  laid  hold  on  eternal 
life.  It  is  no  longer  with  him  a  matter  of  doubt, 
but  of  actual  experience,  what  eternity  has  in  store 
for  him.  He  feels  that  it  can  bring  him  nothing 
more  desirable  than  progress  in  the  path  already 
entered  —  progress  from  light  to  light  and  from 
strength  to  strength;  and  he  knows  that  it  will 
bring  that.    Piety  contains  within  itself  the  assurance 


and  the  pledge  of  "immortal  life.  It  is  conscious  of  an 
impulse,  a  power,  a  devotion,  which  is  stronger  than 
death,  and  which,  though  all  the  waves  and  the 
billows  go  over  it,  cannot  sink  and  cannot  go  out  in 
endless  night.  This  is  the  feeling  which  says,  "  O 
Grave,  where  is  thy  victory  1 " —  the  triumph  of  the 
Christian  who  feels  that  God  has  already  given  him 
the  victory  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

The  death  of  a  believer  who  lays  himself  down  to 
die  without  fear  or  misgiving,  strong  in  the  assur- 
ance of  a  happy  resurrection,  as  the  tired  laborer 
lies  down  to  sleep  when  the  toils  of  the  day  are 
ended,  is  a  great  triumph  —  the  greatest  our  nature 
can  ever  know  —  a  triumph  of  the  spiritual  in  man 
over  the  natural,  of  faith  and  hope  over  sense  and 
the  world.  It  is  good  to  witness  such  triumphs,  to 
see,  a«  in  this  case,  not  the  strong  man  but  the 
feeble  woman,  descend  fearless  and  alone  into  the 
unknown  dark,  relying  on  the  safe-conduct  of  an 
unseen  spiritual  power,  mightier  than  death.  It 
was  evidently  and  eminently  the  practical  religion 
of  a  pure  and  beneficent  life  that  gave  comfort  and 
support  to  our  friend  in  the  dying  hour.  The  de- 
voted mother  and  wife  who  had  fulfilled  to  the 
uttermost,,  so  far  as  human  frailty  would  permit,  the 
2 


10 

duties  involved  in  those  relations,  who  lived  not  for 
self  and  thought  not  of  self,  but  lived  for  duty  and 
thought  only  how  she  might  serve  God  and  promote 
the  happiness  of  those  around  her,  might  well  lay 
down  the  load  of  mortal  infirmity  and  care,  with  the 
tranquillity  and  confidence  of  one  who  has  fought  a 
good  fight  and  kept  the  faith.  Such  examples  are 
most  instructive.  They  illustrate  the  value  of  life, 
the  blessedness  of  well-doing,  the  power  of  faith. 
They  bring  the  spiritual  world  near  to  us,  they  light 
up  the  dull  eye  of  death  with  the  radiance  of  im- 
mortal hope  and  eternal  day. 

Fellow  Christians,  we  have  lost,  in  the  departed 
whose  obsequies  we  now  celebrate,  a  valued  and 
valuable  member  of  our  community.  We  may  well 
sympathize  with  the  husband  bereft  of  the  compan- 
ion of  his  days,  with  the  sons  bereft  of  the  mother 
that  watched  over  and  guided  and  blessed  their  child- 
hood. We,  too,  as  members  of  this  society,  as  wor- 
shippers in  this  sanctuary,  have  lost  a  zealous  friend, 
a  fellow  worshipper,  a  fellow  communicant,  and,  I 
may  add,  an  efficient  helper  and  devoted  servant  of 
the  church ;  for  thirty  years  a  teacher  in  the  Sunday 
school ;  for  more  than  forty,  a  singer  in  the  choir.    I 


11 

said  lost ;  yet  not  all  lost,  I  trust.  What  is  gain  to 
her  in  quitting  this  world  is  not  all  loss  to  us.  She 
may  aid  us  still  with  her  memory  as  with  her  life, 
with  the  light  of  her  example  as  with  her  works. 
Being  dead,  she  yet  serves  us;  being  absent,  slie  is 
with  us  still.  Spiritual  union  is  a  tie  which  tlie 
grave  does  not  cancel.  Those  who  are  one  in  Christ 
are  one  irrespectively  of  earthly  distinctions,  and 
independently  of  time  and  sense. 


"  One  family  we  dwell  in  him, 

One  churcli  above,  beneath, — 

Though  now  divided  by  the  sti-eam. 

The  narrow  stream  of  Death." 


Let  us  live  in  this  faith  while  we  live  in  the  llcsli, 
that,  dying  in  this  faith,  we  may  die  victorious,  ^vith 
a  hope  full  of  immortality. 


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